aerobics

For the vast majority of ordinary people who have no need for specialized sports, aerobics is the most cost-effective, most sustainable, and most adaptable exercise option.

Last week I worked overtime until around 9 o'clock and took a detour to walk home. When I passed by the community square, I saw half a circle of people dancing to the music. The leader was a young girl born in the 2000s who lived above my house. She was wearing a loose sweater and danced to the new choreography Liu Genghong had just updated. There were some people in the team who were carrying schoolbags and dancing. There are junior high school students who have not taken off their red scarves, there are aunties who have just returned from shopping with a vegetable basket and wandered for two minutes, and there is an old man with a cane standing at the end of the line, raising his arms slowly to follow the movements. No one is judging whether the movements are standard. If you can't keep up, just stand and take a few beats. No one laughs at you. This is the most down-to-earth benefit of aerobics, it never sets a threshold for you.

There has always been controversy in the fitness circle. Many "efficiency-oriented" players feel that aerobics is just a show, consumes controllable calories, and does not have the afterburning effect of strength training. If the goal is to develop abdominal muscle vest lines in three months, prepare for bodybuilding competitions, or break a marathon PB, aerobics is indeed not the optimal solution, and may even take up time for special training. There is no need to argue with this. This is the objective fact. But aerobics is not originally prepared for people with special needs. It is more like a home-cooked meal in the fitness industry. It is not as elaborate as a Michelin meal. The advantage is that it can be done casually, and you can eat it every day without getting tired of it. It can keep you full and nourish you.

How can we ordinary people have so much need to compete in fitness? Most of the time, my shoulders and neck are stiff after sitting for a long time. I climbed the third floor and was panting while holding on to the wall. I want to tighten the loose fat on my waist. I come home from work so exhausted that I don’t even have the energy to change my fitness equipment and go to the gym. At this time, aerobics is perfect. Just turn on your phone and search for a 15-minute short exercise. You can jump while wearing slippers. If you don’t want to jump, choose a low-impact version. Just stand and shake your arms and legs the whole time. There are even shoulder and neck exercises that can be done while sitting in an office chair. I danced for 15 minutes with my office colleagues during my last lunch break, and I no longer curled up with my neck while fishing in the afternoon.

Survey data from the National Physical Fitness Monitoring Center in 2023 can also be supported: For people who insist on moderate-intensity aerobics more than three times a week, the incidence of lumbar and cervical spine discomfort is 47% lower than that of sedentary people, and the cardiopulmonary function compliance rate is 32% higher. For people with no exercise foundation, it is much more difficult to get started and the error-tolerant rate is much higher than lifting heavy weights or blindly running long distances. My mother has degenerative knee disease, and the doctor repeatedly told her not to run or jump. I tried the low-impact aerobics for middle-aged and elderly people issued by the State Sports General Administration. She only had to step on her feet during the whole process, and there was no jumping movement. She followed it for three months. Last time I went for a review, the doctor said that the muscle strength around the knees has improved, the frequency of pain has been reduced by half, and she has also lost 6 pounds in weight. Do you think it tastes good?

Of course, some people say that aerobics hurts the joints. I had a friend who followed the trend and did high-intensity aerobics for 40 minutes without warming up. It hurt for a week. Everyone said that aerobics is an IQ tax. In fact, it is really not a question of exercise. Nowadays, regular exercise will be marked with difficulty levels, from K1 to K5. Newbies start from K1. Those with bad knees are specially marked with "low impact" and "no jumping". Take two minutes to take a look at the precautions in advance. Don't let your knees go past your toes. Keep your core slightly closed. If you can't keep up, slow down. There will be no problem at all. You can't get the wrong recipe and fry the vegetables. The strange food itself is not delicious.

To be honest, many people nowadays are always pursuing the "most efficient" and "most professional" when it comes to fitness. The fitness cards they bought are covered in three layers of dust, the dumbbells are piled in the corner as a clothes rack, and they have read a bunch of fitness tutorials and hidden them in their favorites and never clicked on them again. It is better to take 20 minutes a day and sway to your favorite BGM. Even if the movements are not that standard, it is better to move than to lie down. Now that I come home late after working overtime, I will also take 10 minutes to do some relaxation exercises and twist a few times to the music. The sore shoulders and brain swelling of the day are almost gone. There is no need to pay so much attention. Exercise that can be persisted is really good exercise.